Souvenirs
by A.R Claire
Summary: Something terrible happens that makes Emma let her wall down, for good or bad. Charming and Hook make her realize something important. Read to find out. Charming and Emma moments and a bit of Captain Swan too. Hope you like it!
1. Chapter 1

_**Chapter 1: Fresh Wounds**_

They had decided to split up. It wasn't a good idea, but they had to anyway. Emma and Charming stayed at the ship, Regina and her mother went towards the thick forests follow their lead on Henry, and Hook and Rumplestilskin headed towards the mermaid's lair. This was definitely the most ironic pairing that seemed to take place that day. And funnily enough, it had happened naturally.

When Charming decided to stay with Emma, Regina offered to help Snow and well, Hook didn't exactly have a choice. But they'd received information the previous night (just a few hours in Storybrooke time according to Rumplestilskin and Hook) about Henry's whereabouts. So they'd decided to split up, just in case it was a trap.

The attack had happened right after the forest, where Snow and Regina were stationed, blazed with fire. The ship seemed to be protecting Emma and Charming from whatever the forest fire and the Neverland magic were doing to their surroundings. The whole ship felt like an ironclad in boiling lava.

The only weapons they'd had were armory collected by the Captain, from one of his travels to different Realms. The sword Emma held was curved in the edge, it looked like an ancient sword used by either Egyptian kings or an Indian sword; right now she didn't care where it was from, as long as it could do some damage. Charming held his old fashioned broadsword, conjured to the ship by Rumplestilskin himself from Storybrooke; they now looked prepared enough to fend off whatever was to come.

From underneath the ship, flew one of the boys, who looked about 15 and he went straight up to Emma and started to clang his sword against hers. It was a tough battle. Emma looked around to see how her father was doing, and it didn't look good for him either. He was handling three lost ones at the same time, while trying not to fall off the ship.

Emma, spun three sixty degrees and hit the boy with the back of her sword, and knocked him out cold. He lay at the edge of the ship and she was tempted to throw him off, but she saw Charming having his own problems and ran to help him.

"Need a hand?" – Asked Emma and she charged at the boy with the brown hair and blue eyes. Her sword hit the back of his neck and he too, crumpled next to the first boy she'd knocked out.

It took charming all his strength to hold off the two other boys and throw them backwards.

"Thanks. It's been quite some time since I've had to fight such an army." –he spoke of the four boys as if they were some legion, hard to fend off.

The clouds of Neverland covered the ship and all the light from the ship disappeared. It was getting cold and hard to breathe. Emma couldn't believe it; just a few minutes back it was hot as lava and the weather turned frosty cold. She nearly dropped her sword. Charming was holding his throat, finding it hard to breathe. The feeling was familiar, oxygen being sucked out of the air. But Neverland was a magical land, so magic was being sucked out of the air.

A shadow flew above them, and all the Lost Ones began trembling. "He's here and you're done for, you filthy Prince. He'll teach you what happens to those who enter this land and disobey Peter Pan's orders to stay away from him." – Not waiting for the two unconscious boys, the couple jumped on the small boat and sailed south.

The shadow cornered her father and stretched his hand. Suddenly she could feel all the energy going away from her lungs, the atmosphere turned cold and all she could see was the red liquid that was oozing out of her father's chest. She realized that magic wasn't being sucked out of the air; the shadow was taking all the magic away; somehow absorbing it.

The shadow hadn't even touched him, and she could hear him scream. She then realized that she couldn't move, it wasn't fear, it was the shadow's presence, he'd done something to make sure she'd stay put.

She couldn't see him losing, he was her father, he couldn't lose, she couldn't see him weak and begging for mercy when she stood there trembling.

They say magic is expression and feelings, Rumplestilskin himself told her not to think when she conjured the smallest of magic. She didn't know what happened after she raised her hand. A white blast hit the deck of the ship and the shadow scrambled looking for a dark place to retreat. She was feeling angry, someone had tried to attack her family, maybe it ran in her blood; the protectiveness towards her loved ones came at the unexpected times.

The shadow took along the clouds with him. Emma didn't know what she had done, but it sure sent him away for a while, before coming back with reinforcements; maybe collected more shadows of innocents.

She dropped her sword and half walked-half dragged herself to Charming. His eyes were barely open and his breathing was alarmingly slow. She tried to heal him by using some magic again, the wounds healed a bit as if it were stitching itself, she tried again and it didn't work, she couldn't focus and he didn't have much time.

The wounds in his chest became deeper despite her attempts to heal and the darker it got, the uglier it looked. He was gasping for air, coughing out blood and she couldn't do anything.

A clatter of footsteps brought Emma to her senses and she realized the boys gained consciousness and were charging towards an unarmed Emma.

She groped for her sword in fear but was too late as one of the boys held her by her hair and dragged her towards the edge of the ship.

"_This is it" _she thought to herself, this is how she was going to die. One of the boys slashed her cheek and laughed as she cried out in pain. _"That's what everyone gets if they anger a lost boy huh?" _She was going to die, and she only thought about how her father was lying there, all beaten up and gasping for blood. Her eyes filled with tears as she waited for the final blow from her enemy. She closed her eyes. _I love you Henry, Mom and you too Dad… I'll always love you._ She didn't have the energy to say it but she looked over to her father. Their eyes met, and there was a proud smile etched on Prince Charming's face as he took his last breath.

Clang! The boys were shoved off by a heavy weighted person in a black leather coat.

_Hook!_

That was her last thought before her vision turned dark.

* * *

"…We came as soon as the shadow was retreating, and that's when we realized something bad had happened." –Gold's voice echoed a bit too loud for Emma's liking as she opened her eyes, only to be greeted by her mother's rib cracking hug.

"What happened? Where am I, and… NO! David, where's David?" –cried Emma, as she hurriedly got up and searched for her father.

"He's resting, needs it, took a bad beating." –came the pirate's voice from the corner of the small room.

"I need to see him." –pleaded Emma.

"You need your rest Emma, and so does your father. There'll be enough time for all this once you're all healed and ready for battle. Please honey, I don't… think it'll be wise to visit him in his…condition." –Snow spoke gently, which calmed Emma's hyperactive nerves.

"No, I need to-" –Emma's voice broke as she sat down on the bed and stared at the wall in front of her. She'd almost lost him. He was bleeding, and the gashes looked ugly. How was he ever going to get any better? Her hand reached her left cheek where one of those boys had gashed her. It was deep and it hurt.

"I'm glad you're alright Emma, We were so worried about you." –snow said.

"I'm fine, I just… need to be alone for a while… mom, please? I'll be down in a while." –begged Emma

"I understand. See you in a bit."

She walked out of the room sobbing silently.

"You know, you could be a bit thankful for the concern your mother shows towards you." –spoke Hook.

"I am, in fact I'm grateful. But I just need some time alone." –replied Emma.

"What you witnessed, people like me have only heard about the shadow's doings… we've never angered him so much before. Trying to break into the lockout where Henry was… that must have put him off immensely."

"…Thank you Killian." –Emma replied after sometime.

"All I did was save you love and you'd have done the same for me. Besides, if we're all going to be working together, we might as well look out for each other." –he smiled and sat beside her. He dabbed a cloth in a brown color liquid which smelt suspiciously like Rum to Emma.

He placed the cool cloth on her cheek and waited. Emma shouted out in pain but it subsided as the liquid seeped into her skin. He let the cloth stay there for a while and then removed it.

Hook got up and offered his good hand to her. Without questioning she took it and got up. After about a few minutes, he spoke –"Come on."

"Where are we going?"

"We're breaking your mother's rules and going to your father's room." – said a smiling Hook.

She was puzzled by the way this pirate was behaving. He'd never been so friendly before, neither had he cared to be a part of her life, especially in her very 'personal' part of her life. The bigger problem Emma faced was that she was letting him in. She never did that to anybody. Her walls were always so high, that even her parents had to always scrape through every inch, to find another big layer waiting for them.

But they had been in search for Henry for weeks now. And without anyone realizing it, for the first time, everyone was willing to talk, and have a laugh with each other. Another thing that bothered her was her 'scars'. She was worried about how she would face them. The physical scars would heal, maybe in a week's time. She had her mental scars to think about, one of them being today's event. She would keep telling herself that she could handle it, but she knew that she would crumble before finding Henry if she didn't handle it. But she didn't know how to.

She was so caught up in her thoughts that she didn't hear her father shout out in pain when Snow was applying some medicine to the gash on the chest. Yes, Rumplestilskin had done some healing, but it wasn't as simple as it seemed. The Shadow drew power from the victim's fears and the stronger the fears, the stronger the gash. And the gash could only heal completely if the victim wanted it to heal, she found that part a bit awkward but she let it be.

She looked at Charming's bare chest and was shocked to see the amount of scars he'd acquired through time. Her first thought was to run away, but it was a bit too late for that, she had to at least be by his side to know that he was going to be alright.

He was her father, and she'd better start acting like his daughter. She was working on that, and right now it was going okay or her.

She walked towards him, while he mumbled to Snow about not applying too much pressure on the wound.

"I'm fine Snow." – charming mumbled as Snow fussed over the other scrapes and cuts on his hand.

"… you were nearly dead when I saw you, do you understand that Charming? So I _will_ fuss over your wounds, until they are completely healed." – Snow choked back a sob and spoke softly.

They both looked up as Emma sat beside the bed on a small individual chair.

"Emma." – whispered Charming. "What are you doing here?"

* * *

_**A/N: HIYA! So this is my second OUAT fanfiction. This is the first part of the two parts I'll be writing. So yeah, just a small Captain Swan moment. But I promise you, the next Chapter will be all Charming and Emma. So get ready to FEEL! My captain Swan and CharmingxEmma; father daughter feels aren't about to disappear any time soon. Sooo if you enjoyed this first part; please review. I love them just like I love you all!**_

_**Love,  
A.R. Claire  
**_

_**P.S.: I'll be posting the next Chapter in a couple of days, so please be patient. 3 **_


	2. Chapter 2

_**Chapter 2: Scars**_

_**Previously:**_

"_**Emma" Charming whispered. "What are you doing here?"**_

* * *

"I thought I clearly told you to stay in bed Emma." –Snow's stern voice rang through the small room. Even Captain Hook flinched at the authoritative tone of her highness.

Emma was not looking at Snow; she was gazing at the numerous scars on Charming's chest with an alarming look. She looked scared for the first time as she witnessed how those scars grew deeper every time she stared at them. The longer she looked, the bloodier they appeared. And the recent wound looked the worst. And what scared Emma the most was that it was only half of what she saw, the rest of the wounds were covered in bandages.

She was in a loss of words on how to describe her father's state. Charming on the other hand understood what Emma was going through and signaled the pirate who was standing near the door to politely leave. He did the same to Snow, although it was a battle of wits as Snow was also concerned for Emma and she wanted Charming to rest. But she finally gave in and stomped out of the room like a 15 year old teenager followed by an amused pirate.

Deciding to break the ice, Charming asked Emma - "How are you feeling?"

In a typical Emma Swan style, she avoided that question and jumped right to the point.

"You nearly died in front of me, and I was so weak… so powerless against a mere shadow." – whispered Emma.

Charming thought for a second on how to approach her. She seemed broken for a person who was a master in building walls. He feared she wouldn't talk to him or just ignore him and try to stack up her worries in that tiny little brain of hers, but he was wrong. Well, partly wrong. He also knew that she was like him, she needed people more than she let on; she was a 'people person'. And both father and daughter were too proud to accept that particular fact.

"Em-" – he tried to explain to her, but she was on a roll.

"No! Don't say that you're sorry! Don't say that it won't happen again, because it might and I might fail to even save you. Hell, I did fail to protect you! You were bleeding, you were hurt and I was just standing there!"

Emma started to cry. She was never the kind of a person, who let her wall down in an instant, but she was so worried, and this feeling was all new to her. She had a family now, and responsibilities, and most of all…she was scared she would disappoint them.

"Emma… look at me, I'm ALIVE. I'm well and mending because of you. You drove that shadow away Emma. No, look at me. Your power drove that shadow away into hiding. Yes, there is no guarantee that he won't come back, but we'll be prepared Emma. This was a surprise attack, and one of the groups HAD to face him. We were misinformed. But we were informed that the shadow might attack right? Emma, are you listening to me?"

"Yes, I am." – Emma whispered back.

"I'm not the person people generally come to for… advice, Snow generally handles that part, but that doesn't mean I don't know what you're going through Emma. You think you've failed us. You think you've failed being the princess we wanted you to be…the daughter we wanted you to be. But you haven't Emma; I was so proud of what you did today. I thought to myself as I was lying there, that MY daughter was a fighter! She didn't give up until the very end. She gave that creep of a shadow a beating he deserved. You did better than any princess in any realm Emma. And that I would die a proud father."

"Don't say that… don't you dare say that you would actually die for me. After all our family has been through, you would just leave us, you would leave me?" –cried Emma

Charming sat up straight and reached out to hold Emma's cheek. He wiped off the tears from her face and beckoned her to sit on the bed.

"I need to show you something, come here." –he patted the free side of the bed and gestured Emma to sit next to him.

"David, what-"

He removed the bandages one by one and revealed some of the lousiest scars to the human eye, to Emma. She gasped and looked at a deep strike probably made by an arrow. It was intense and produced an aura of pride. She looked into the bluish grey eyes of the prince and noticed his eyes narrating a very poignant story that described this gash.

"This wound was actually was by your mother. She…uh drank a portion to forget who I was and planned to kill Regina. I stopped her, when Regina was on her 'parade' to visit the people of a nearby village. I took the arrow meant for Regina. I was so devastated Emma, Snow didn't even recognize me. She barely remembered my name and I felt like I'd failed her. This is one of the most painful memories I hold on till date, to remind myself that it is just a scar."

"David…"

"No Emma, listen to me. You see the scar right above the one made by the arrow. That was made by a knight's sword… and this one is the most painful scar I've ever had to carry." He sighed and paused for a moment, his eyes were filled with tears, as if bringing back those memories were painful enough but recounting them to his daughter… was a bit extreme.

"Emma… I fought two of Regina's guards the day you were born. You were just a baby, and so tiny that you fit right in my palm. I had to get you to that wardrobe. This wound reminds me of how much I regret that decision, even now I feel like I could've done something else; thought of some other solution… but you came early. And I thought Snow was crazy when she told me to take you to that wardrobe… but I knew she was right… I had to give you your best chance…and this scar reminds me of the most difficult task I was given; to get you to safety."

He sighed and smiled. "At least the most difficult task until now… there'll be many more dangers ahead of us in this land and we need to be prepared."

"You mean… you can get hurt, that I'll have to face this… dad, I can't… do any of this alone anymore…" –sobbed Emma. He pulled her closer and rested his head in her hair.

"Emma these scars were wounds, fresh wounds once a very long time ago. But that's the secret of me being here Emma; they're after all, just scars. It takes time, but scars will never be anything more than marks on your body which remind you of what tough situations you've been through. And after all, scars are nothing but souvenirs we carry on to our next and new adventure right?" After some time he said again –"And I'm proud that you too have a souvenir now, this'll remind you of how you fought death until the very end."

He smiled looking up at her glassy teary eyes.

"I had help." –she mumbled as she gave a small chuckle.

"Of course you had help! You had me!" –beamed Charming.

She gave a small smile but it soon disappeared and the look full of fear returned in those watery eyes.

"Look at you, you're being a 15 year old Emma, there's nothing to worry about. You understand that? I'll always be there for you, no matter what. I'll not leave you ever again, I promise."

She did feel like a fifteen year old having sudden panic attacks about her father going away from her. So like all fifteen year olds she said –"You promise?"

Charming laughed a bit too loudly and ruffled her hair and replied – "With all my heart."

She did notice the fear in his eyes today. And even now, she sensed that something was up and bothering him. But then she thought again, of all the times he was worried about her. She needed to loosen up if she had to find Henry, and she would start by accepting a few facts in her life.

"Thanks…dad." Emma said this and kissed him on the cheek. She got up and moved towards the door.

His heart felt warm and fuzzy when she called him Dad. He always wished for moments like this; moments where he could be normal and have a family which wasn't so complicated.

She turned back and said – "By the way David...I was talking about Killian when I said I had help."

Damn! She'd hit the nail right on the target. His daughter beginning to get close to the Captain didn't exactly make him feel any better.

"Do I have to be in desperate situations for you to call me 'Dad' Emma?" –He called after her as she smirked and replied –"Take care David."

* * *

_**That night…**_

"Charming?" She sounded alarmed by the events of the day and she was shaking slightly; her and Regina facing that massive fire and charming almost dying. She hid her tears and cleared her throat.

"I know you were listening to our conversation Snow, I could see you agitated all day today. So tell me what's up?" –sighed Charming and looked at her.

"Well, it's just that Emma has been so guarded… and I'm surprised that you were able to get her walls down." Snow was really amused and shocked at the same time about what happened that morning.

"Well… it's just that…. Forget I even brought this up Snow. Let's go to bed."

"You did well you know Charming?" –Snow said, snuggling closer to him.

"Well, I am charming aren't I?" –he grinned back.

"No, your Alexander…"

"Nobody knows that."

"Nobody except me of course…" –she smiled and kissed him on his cheek.

"But honestly Snow, do you really think I did good with her? She seemed scared."

"You were scared too you know. But when you both spoke to each other, you comforted each other. I could see Emma easing up a little on her way to the room."

"Good. Sometimes there's so much hate in this world, and I feel terrible that Emma has to go through so much of it." –said Charming.

"Well, she's got us now hasn't she. So don't go all philosophical on me and go to bed. Something must have happened to you when you almost died!" She was trying to be optimistic and Charming could hear the shaky tone in her voice.

"Charming, love, let's just leave it at that shall we?" She settled down closer to him.

"Mhmm… I don't want Emma going anywhere near that Pirate."

Snow groaned. Yup, he was completely alright.

She just wished all went well finding Henry and that their 'alliance' suffering as less as possible. She would crumble if she saw more of what she saw today.

A flicker of light brought her back to her senses.

A Candle: the sign of hope.

They were going to be alright.

_**A/N: So, how was the story? I plan on writing maybe more One-Shots and Two-Shots for Emma and Charming so I hope we'll all be awesome buds! :D Okay, so honestly please post all your thoughts by clicking that review button. I hope I did justice to the story. :D **_

_**Love you all,**_

_**A.R. Claire :) **_

_**P.S: I will warn you that I'm a huge Captain Swan fan, so you can expect more stories revolving around this pair too. ;) Haha, see you soon :)**_


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